Clive Davis festival to showcase musical entrepreneurs

April 7, 2014

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NYU’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music will host RECESS, a one-day festival on April 10, featuring innovation and entrepreneurship in the music industry.

Sponsored by WIN Music and backed by prominent investors, the festival is part of RECESS’s cross-country campus tour. The event will kick off with an interactive networking event, followed by a speaker series featuring panel discussions with established entrepreneurs. Speakers and panelists will include Cory Levy, co-founder of social networking application ONE; Jeff Rabhan, Clive Davis chair; Ed Shapiro, renowned music lawyer; and Miki Agrawal, best-selling author and co-founder of the apparel company THINX.

Following the panel discussions, there will be an idea pitch competition. The team with the winning idea will receive an all-expense-paid trip to the National Pitch Finals in Las Vegas at the end of May, where it will compete against students from schools across the country and pitch their ideas to potential investors. The festival will close with a concert at the Flatiron bar SPiN, which will feature musical acts such as Robert DeLong and Sean Glass.

RECESS co-founder Jack Shannon said the festival appeals to college students nationwide in a fun, interactive way, with the goal of inspiring future leaders of the industry.

“RECESS curates the best day of college by bringing together successful entrepreneurs, the coolest new startups and the hottest acts in music to campuses across the country,” Shannon said in a press release. “Our mission is to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs that will change the landscape of tomorrow’s businesses.”

Clive Davis events coordinator Nikki Mirasola, who decided to bring RECESS to NYU, said the festival encourages the creativity and entrepreneurship that the Institute promotes and teaches.

“RECESS presents an incredible opportunity for NYU students to meet and interact with the people and companies that are embracing creativity and out-of-the-box thinking and, consequently, changing the world,” Mirasola said.

Jesse Sussman, a junior in the Clive Davis Institute, said he iis excited for the opportunities the festival will bring to campus.

“You can never make too many connections and, as someone on the executive track in Clive Davis, I’m looking forward to learning from and networking with like-minded people in the industry,” Sussman said.

Sussman said he hopes to pitch an idea for a startup at the idea pitch competition if his application is accepted.

The event is free and open to the NYU community with RSVP online. Concert tickets are $20 until April 10 and $25 after, and can be purchased online.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, April 7 print edition. Julianne McShane is a staff writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.